By Thomas P. Hurley
Commentary
Possible regionalization of Orange’s elementary schools was a hot topic at the September Orange first selectman debate. Some assumptions were made that bear further examination.
One of the statements made is that this would save a lot of money because we would eliminate duplicate superintendents and front office staff. Well, yes and no. The Amity Region No. 5 district, which currently only encompasses the middle and high schools, will need added staffing to handle the elementary schools. The system would probably need an assistant superintendent due to its added size. The Amity system would also need an elementary assistant curriculum director. The finance department would probably need an additional assistant finance director.
So yes, we would still have a reduction in these senior-level positions, but it is not as large a savings as it would appear at first. Long-term savings are here, but not in the short run.
In the first year, any administrative staff with contracts (the administrator group) would have to have their remaining contracts bought out if they were not moved up to the Amity district. This might have to be done for all the individually contracted staff anyway, as Amity would be under no obligation to hire the existing administrators.
Union contracts would likely be reopened, and teacher union representation would likely be centralized under one group. This means some costs for union representation elections should be expected. Dealing with multiple teacher unions or groups would be a nightmare for the Amity district to manage. Other pension and employee benefit expenses would likely mean a one-time payout from each town on their outstanding unfinanced obligations. If this was not done, then other towns could end up paying another town’s obligations as the Amity budget would base payouts on the student population from each town – not what each town actually owes.
If the towns should decide to keep this obligation instead of transferring it to Amity, then savings are not likely on this front, as each town would still have to administer these benefits well into the future.
What about elementary school bonding? Town bonding debts for their schools would have to be accounted for. The underlying assets used to justify the bonds were based on an individual town’s tax base. Would the Amity district’s taxing authority now take that obligation? Probably not. The towns would likely have to keep paying this down and keep including it in their tax calculations.
Regionalization of services is an area where savings could be found. Each town would be billed for the services it uses and would not be a shared expense. Information technology would be a leading candidate here. But if the town can get a better deal elsewhere, they will go elsewhere. Amity would be just another vendor in these transactions.
All three towns would have to independently vote to approval any changes. It’s not one town’s prerogative consolidate the elementary schools.
A bipartisan multi-town committee needs to be formed to make suitable recommendations for any consolidation of the elementary schools, as is currently happening between nearby Derby and Ansonia.
Make sure you understand – and the candidates offer – the details of any proposed school regionalization. The devil, as they say, is in the details.